A dare from a couple of college buddies turned Scott Schirmer into a horror fan. "I never liked horror growing up," he said. "But I had friends in college who challenged me to watch 'Texas Chain Saw Massacre' and 'The Evil Dead,' and I changed my mind." Schirmer has since become a director of horror movies. His latest, "Plank Face," will have its world premiere Saturday at the Gateway Film Center.

Terry Mikesell, The Columbus Dispatch

A dare from a couple of college buddies turned Scott Schirmer into a horror fan.

“I never liked horror growing up,” he said. “But I had friends in college who challenged me to watch ‘Texas Chain Saw Massacre’ and ‘The Evil Dead,’ and I changed my mind.”

Schirmer has since become a director of horror movies.

His latest, “Plank Face,” will have its world premiere Saturday at the Gateway Film Center.

Schirmer, of Bloomington, Indiana, shot the movie during eight days in the forested hills of southern Indiana.

It centers on a young man, camping in the woods with his girlfriend, who is taken hostage by three feral women — and his life and personality are changed.

Jason Tostevin, a filmmaker as well as the vice president of marketing and communication at the Gateway, met Schirmer on the festival circuit and got to know his work.

“When I knew they were making a new movie, I said: ‘You have a large fan base here, and we are fans of yours. Let’s throw the big premiere party here,’” Tostevin said.

Many members of the cast and crew will attend the screening. Schirmer will introduce the movie, and a question-and-answer session will take place after.

Tostevin calls himself a fan of the Schirmer oeuvre.

“They are making thoughtful films that make you uncomfortable,” he said. “Their focus has been psychosexual horror, and that’s a side of things that isn’t getting explored in studio or indie movies.”

Schirmer, 42, agrees with that description.

“Sex and horror seem to be so interwoven through the history of horror films that it’s hard to take sex out of horror,” he said. “So I target that directly and try to find a fresh new way of exploiting it. In the past, ... (movies have) exploited women; the tack I take is slipping the paradigm and exploring the sexual exploitation of men.

“In movies like ‘Plank Face,’ it’s more about women being sexually empowered and the men being abused.”

(The film includes scenes of full frontal nudity, sexual situations, rape and gore.)

Schirmer enjoys writing fright flicks.

“It’s very easy and fun to write for horror,” he said. “Other genres might be more difficult for me because the content isn’t as provocative. If it’s provocative to the audience, it should be provocative for the writer.”

And such offerings inspire creativity in the directing, he said.

“Horror gives you the opportunity, as a creative artist, to show off your skill as a director because horror and fantasy and sci-fi allow for a little more flair, a little more opportunity to strut your stuff.”

He hopes that his movies provoke gasps and screams — and deeper thoughts.

“I want them to have what horror fans feel from a horror film,” Schirmer said: “They want to be thrilled; they want to be entertained. I think that’s what they expect.

“I hope they get questions. I hope they think the world is less black and white, ... and there are many shades of gray between good and bad.”

tmikesel@dispatch.com

@Terrymikesell

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